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Teachers

All our programmes are held by esteemed teachers, that have practiced and studied meditation and other contemplative disciplines for many years. All Shambhala teachers have gone through a thorough curriculum of teacher training and practice. The spiritual leaders of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage – Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his son Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche - have empowered some of their senior students as „Acharyas“ and „Shastris“ which are Sanskrit terms for Senior Teachers.

Dechen Chöling also works with renowned teachers from other respected traditions such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong etc.

Find out more about our teachers in the descriptions below and on the Shambhala Europe website. All are looking forward to meet you here and support and inspire you on your personal path. Most of the programmes are also facilitated by Meditation Instructors and Assistant Directors who serve as personal advisors for the participants.

Shambhala Lineage Holder

Sakyong Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, the spiritual head of the Shambhala Buddhist Lineage, founded Dechen Chöling in 1994. He is the Dharma heir of his father, the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was instrumental in bringing Buddhism to the West.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, holder of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, founded the Shambhala Buddhist lineage.

Born in Tibet in 1939, Trungpa Rinpoche was recognized at an early age as a tülku, or reincarnated teacher. He fled Tibet in 1959, and four years later went to Oxford University in England. From that time until his death in 1987, he worked tirelessly to bring the living teachings of meditation to the Western world, establishing several major practice centres, over one hundred meditation centres, and Naropa University.

Lineage Holder

Eva Wong, author and translator of thirteen books on the Taoist arts of health, meditation and Qigong, is the 19th-generation lineage carrier of Xiantianwujimen Taoism (Pre-celestial Limitless Gate School of Taoism) and 3rd-generation student of Wang Xiangzhai, founder of Yiquan martial arts and Zhangzhuan (standing Qigong).

Onyumishi Kanjuro Shibata is a 20th generation master bowmaker and archer and 3rd generation "Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan" (retired).

In 1980, by the invitation of The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master, and founder of Shambhala International and Naropa University, Kanjuro Shibata XX came to the United States from Japan to teach Kyudo and together with Trungpa, founded Ryuko Kyudojo (Dragon-Tiger Kyudo Practice Hall) in Boulder, Colorado.

Acharya

Acharya Adam Lobel has lived and studied Buddhism in monasteries in Tibet, Nepal and India. One of the co-editors of Turning the Mind into an Ally, he has created meditation programs based on this book. Adam is currently pursuing graduate studies in Buddhism at the Harvard Divinity School.

Barbara Märtens is trained in cultural pedagogy, Zen-arts and contemplative psychology; She teaches various Meditation and Buddhist courses in Europe including Maitri Space Awareness practice and other contemplative approaches to art, work, and to life in general. Her special emphasis lies in training sense perception and creative expression in individual and group work. She is an Acharya in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition with more than 20 years of practice. She is a member of faculty in Karuna and Upaya, an organization for contemplative psychology, health and art.

David Hope has been a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for the past 30 years. He helped establish the London Shambhala Centre in the 1980’s. Since then he has taught widely in Europe and other countries worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He has been involved with Dechen Chöling since its beginnings in 1995, as a co-director and in many other ways. In 2005 he was appointed as Acharya (a senior teacher) for the Shambhala community. He lives in England with his wife, Christina de Block.

David Schneider began to practice Zen meditation with a local group at Reed College, in Portland, OR, in 1971. Later that year he did several retreats under Suzuki Roshi. IN 1972, he saw Suzuki Roshi and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche together at the San Francisco Zen Center.
David moved into the San Francisco Zen Center where he was ordained by Richard Baker Roshi in 1977, and where he lived for 13 years, practicing, studying and doing many academic and practical jobs as part of community life.

Celebrating with us this year the 20th anniversary of the Land of Great Bliss, the bees of Dechen Chöling have been witnessing and enriching our growth all these years along. This year they have produced an enormous amount of beautiful honey: more than 120 kilos of honey collected by four beehives in the fields around Dechen Chöling...

You could feel the excitement from early morning. We had been preparing for this day weeks in advance and now it was finally here. We found ourselves looking up at the sky as the clouds had started to move in , and our normal blue sky had turned a bit grey. Would it rain? Would anyone even come if the weather was poor?...